QUERQUEDULA DISCORS : BLUE-WINGED TEAL. 3 1 1 



BLUE-WINGED TEAL. 



QUERQUEDULA DISCORS {L.) StepJi. 



Chars. Wing-coverts in both sexes sky-blue, the greater white- 

 tipped ; speculum green, white-tipped ; axillars and most under 

 wing-coverts white ; scapulars striped with tawny and blue (not 

 in the female) or dark green ; fore back barred ; rump and tail 

 dark, plain ; crissum dark or black ; bill black ; feet not dark- 

 Head and neck of the male blackish-plumbeous, darkest on the 

 crown, usually with purplish iridescence ; a white crescent in 

 front of the eye ; under parts thickly dark-spotted. Female with 

 head and neck altogether different ; under parts much paler and 

 obscurely spotted ; but known by the wing-markings from any 

 other species. Length, 15.00-16.00 ; wing, 7.00 ; tail, 3.00 ; tar- 

 sus, 1.25 ; bill, 1. 50-1.67. 



This kind of Teal occurs with us under the same 

 circumstances as the Green-Winged does, but is less 

 numerous. Mr. Allen speaks of its having formerly 

 been, doubtless, a summer resident ; but we have no 

 late records of its breeding in New England. 



SHOVELLER ; BROAD-BILL. 



Spatula clypeata (Z.) Boie. 



Chars. Head and neck glossy-green ; rump and upper tail-coverts 

 black, faintly glossed ; breast and forward under parts white ; 

 belly dark violet-red ; under tail-coverts black ; more or less white 

 on the wing, shoulders, and along the posterior parts ; wing- 

 coverts and tertials blue, more or less tipped with white ; specu- 

 lum green, bordered with a stripe of black and then of white. 

 Female darker or duller ; head and neck reddish, darker below. 

 Bill enlarged at end, nearly black. Legs and feet red. Iris 

 orange-red. Length, 19.00-20.00 ; extent, nearly 30.00 ; wing, 

 9.00-9.75 ; bill, 20.00 or less ; tarsus, 1.40. 



